Coffee tables

Upstart Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 8

Did coffee tables as we know them now exist in the Regency era? I have found references to "coffee table" but I don't know if they were used as they are now. Was wine/food placed on them?

Thanks for any insights.

Kalen - thanks also for that excellent movie reference. I watched BBC's Vanity Fair as a result and loved the period detail (assuming authenticity...)

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 10:40 am Post subject:

No, the coffee tables we know are pretty much a 20th century invention. In the Regency, tea and coffee tables were used to serve/eat/drink, so they were typical dining-table height, though much smaller, eq around 36" across.
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Upstart Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 8

Thanks Candice.
What is your opinion of this table in the following link? IT's called a cocktail table and is 18.5 inches tall. Any idea what this would have been used for?
http://www.kentshire.com/BigPicture.aspFromThumbnails=2027&SKU=Y33767

(I'm trying to discover what table they might have placed a tray of food and drinks on when guests are seated upon a settee in a Salon so that the food/drink is within easy reach.)

Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1100

Candice knows waaaaaaaaaaaaay more about this topic than I ever will, but I have a few books I can poke my nose into tonight . . .
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-Kalen
w/a Isobel Carr
Ripe for Pleasure, May 2011
Book 1: The League of Second Sons
www.isobelcarr.com

Upstart Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Posts: 13

In that photo, it looks almost like a breakfast tray. I wonder if it's the sort of thing a servant would load up in another room, and bring in for service.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:05 pm Post subject:

The only thing 18th century about that table is the Aubuson carpet section under the glass. Whenever the word "style" is used to describe a piece of furniture (as "Adam style" here) it means it is a much later piece made in the style mentioned. This looks like a 20th century table to me.

As for what sort of table would be used for food and drinks for people seated in a salon or drawing room ... that would be a tea table. They are almost all tilt-top, so they easily be stored flat against a wall or tucked away in a storage area. They were very portable tables, easy to move about. The majority of them were round -- about 36" across -- but I have two that are small rectangular tilt-top tables, about 24" x 18".
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